1. FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention relates to a fiber raceway system that has improved accessability. More particularly, the invention relates to a raceway fitting having a separately removable split cover.
2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
Raceway and duct systems have become very popular in recent years to route, protect and conceal data, voice, video, fiber-optic and/or power cabling. Such systems allow custom installation and can be provided within walls or more preferably provided on external surfaces, allowing ready access for reconfiguration, repair or installation of additional equipment. Such systems can be formed from various sections of raceway or duct, including straight sections, 90 degree comer fittings, 45 degree comer fittings, T fittings, four-way intersection (X) fittings, and the like, which are affixed together by way of a duct coupler.
Typical raceway systems consist of troughs or fittings made up of a base member and a cover. The cover may be a hinged cover or a snap-on cover. In operation, the cover must be removed to allow access to a cable receiving cavity within the base member. When a long raceway made up of several raceway sections is involved, such a process requires a large amount of physical effort to remove all of the covers and to return them after the installation. Also, when the covers are fully removed, there may be the possibility that undesired cables or bundles inadvertently fall out of the raceway.
There is a need for a raceway system that can provide more flexible and simplified reconfiguration of cabling within the raceway without the need for always removing all of the raceway covers.
There also is a need for a raceway section for a raceway system that allows small cables or bundles of cables to be easily installed or removed from the raceway system, while still allowing the flexibility to remove or install large bundles of cables.
The invention achieves these and other features by providing a raceway section that forms part of a raceway system for routing, protecting and enclosing cabling, comprising: a base member having a bottom wall and two side walls defining a cable receiving channel therebetween with a longitudinally extending top opening; and two split covers independently removably attached to respective ones of the side walls, the split covers each having a laterally extending cover portion, an outside edge portion, and an inside edge portion, wherein the split covers each cover a portion of the longitudinally extending top opening such that a substantial amount of the top opening is covered and the inside edge portions are juxtaposed to form a longitudinally extending slot sufficiently wide to allow the removal or insertion of a cable through the slot without removal of the split covers.
According to a first embodiment of the invention, the inside edge portions of the split covers are spaced from each other to define the longitudinally extending slot.
In another embodiment of the invention, the inside edges of the split covers abut or overlap each other and the longitudinally extending slot is formed by at least one of the split covers being partially flexible such that the corresponding inside edge portion yields to allow insertion of a cable through the slot. Upon complete insertion of the cable through the slot, the yielding inside edge portion returns to abut or overlap the other inside edge portion.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, at least one of the inside edge portions has an outwardly curved lip.
The slot may extend substantially parallel with one of the side walls or may have a curved or sinusoidal path that does not follow the curvature of the raceway section.
The split covers may be removably affixed to the base member by a combination of a snap-shaped hook and a buckle ring attachment system.
The raceway section may take the form of any of a straight section, a right angle comer fitting, a 45 degree comer fitting , a T fitting, a four-way intersection fitting, or other conventional or subsequently contemplated sectional configurations. The raceway sections preferably are abuttable with other raceway sections to form a raceway system.
With the inventive raceway section and raceway system, cabling can be selectively inserted into or removed from individual raceway sections by several methods, including installation or removal of large bundles by removal of one or both of the split covers, and installation of one or more small cables by insertion or removal through the slot without having to remove the split covers.